There is definitely a theme here

Our Christmas Day skype with my parents...love them! How did people live overseas before skype?!?!?!

Watching Sarah Beth open her present from us.

Skyping with my sisters...so precious to me!

Christmas Eve at Schloss Schonbrunn--a new tradition!

Wherever you are--be all there. Jim Elliot

This is, believe it or not, my 300th post on this blog. Amazing! I still can't get over the fact that anyone reads this, but I sure enjoy writing it. It's fun to look back over time and see where I've been and how I got to where I am right now. As I read over some old blogs from the last 4 1/2 years, I realize that I have lived in four countries during that time--Russia, Czech Republic, the U.S., and Austria. You have to give me this--my life isn't boring. :) It also occurs to me that as I look back over the last 299 blogs, a theme appears, a definite motif that traces through the ups and downs of this life I've been called to live. In all of these posts, in some way or another, I come back to God's absolute faithfulness time and time again. In the darkness of Russia, the limbo of the Czech Republic, the waiting of the U.S., and the transition into Austria, God has--again and again and again--proven Himself faithful, faithful, faithful.

I'm not going to lie--Austria has been a much more difficult transition than we had anticipated. It's easy to think that after you've done something once, it doesn't matter where you do it again...sort of like riding a bicycle. Once you know how to do it, you know how to do it. That hasn't proven true here. Adjusting and acclimating to Russia is very different from adjusting and acclimating to Austria. The people are different, the climate is different, the laws are different, and, of course, the language is different. What we have now that we didn't have when we went to Russia is perspective. We've been through this before. And because God was so faithful in Russia, in Czech Republic, in the U.S., we have every reason to believe that He will continue to be faithful here. So we walk on, we live our life, we try to learn the customs, the laws, the language, we try to develop relationships and ministry, and we know that we are not alone. We are exactly where we are supposed to be at this moment, and that makes life joyful even in the awkward moments of transition that are inevitable.

One thing that has helped me during this time is to be thankful and grateful for the things that are going well or are going right, and not just thankful, but vocal about my thankfulness to God. Instead of saying, "Thank you, Lord, for the many blessings of this life," I make a list. When I'm feeling particularly blue, I make a really detailed list. Because here's the deal: when I sit down to be really thankful, the blessings are overwhelming. I feel piddly and small for being ungrateful EVER, because my life is so full of God's very best. Maybe it's not the place I would have chosen, but God's idea of what my life should look like far surpasses anything my brain could come up with, even in a dream. Making copies for our visa applications yesterday, I realized that my 10-year-old has been to more countries than most adults will ever see. When Hannah goes to Bosnia in February, it will be her 13th country to visit. What?!?!?! But even better than that, our family has the chance to see God at work, up close and personal, to be fully dependent on Him, to taste and see that He is good. Those are not just words in a book, however holy it may be. Those are truths that we have tested and know to be absolute.

So what am I particularly thankful for on this last day of 2011, this 300th post? Of course, I'm thankful for my family, for our closeness, for our health and general happiness. I'm thankful for my close relationship with my sisters and parents, for the way they have invested in this life I've been called to. I'm thankful for friends in the States who constantly encourage me and love me, but who let me love and encourage them, too. I'm grateful for growing relationships here, both with colleagues and with those outside our organization. I'm thankful for the sweet fellowship of our church here, for the many nations represented each Sunday as we worship together. I'm thankful that we will start language lessons soon, and that I will be able to speak and be understood more than I am able to do right now. I'm grateful for our new kittens, for the way they have added to the fun of our lives here. I'm thankful for our colleagues in Russia, who we consider family and who have always treated us as "theirs," no matter where we live. And I'm thankful for this time of transition, this hard season, where God is teaching us new things, sloughing off more and more of the old man in each of us, growing something new and beautiful out of these jars of clay. I'll never get over it--He called us to this. Us. Knowing us, He called us, anyway. I'll never understand it, but I'm forever grateful.

It's time for me to start cooking. We have friends coming over tonight for New Year's Eve, and some colleagues from Hungary are coming to spend the night, too. There are pizzas and cheeseball to be made. :) Then tomorrow night, we get to hang out all night with colleagues in an effort to obtain our visas. It will be cold, but it will probably be fun. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are singing the songs of His ultimate, continuing, dependable faithfulness, and that your kittens are making you laugh as they chase stuff around, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye